The Mix 026: Bklava

“My music has been on a weird journey,” says DJ, producer, vocalist, and label head Bklava when thinking back on their winding but multifaceted career in music. After graduating from London’s BRIT School with a degree in Musical Theatre, Bklava - real name Lara Sweeney - put their vocal savvy to the test over their newly inherited skills in DJing, picking up a residency at Brighton’s famed Patterns nightclub, and trialling the unique mixing-while-singing crossover that they're known for today. "I think it’s particularly hard as an artist who sings in dance music," they say, wanting to champion the art form. "There are quite a few of us now, and I still don’t know if it’s taken seriously within the industry."

The debut mixtape from the Lebanese-Irish artist, ‘c u l8r’, is their first independent release after cutting ties with long-associated label Ministry of Sound, and brings a feeling of grounding for Bklava as they enter a new phase. “I think I got a little lost for a year or two before becoming independent,” they say. “This project was playing catch up, not only for me but for others who may have also gotten confused along the way.”

With the help of garage heroes and rising stars including MJ Cole, Big Ang, bullet tooth, and Soul Mass Transit System, the 14-track project encompasses “years of work”, brimming with nostalgic tones of UKG, with old skool sounds and 2-step in a nod to club culture and its history. Bklava sees it as a rebrand of sorts, a way to prove that they’re not just the DJ and singer some commonly see them as, but the producer behind those simmering garage hits too.

Since going independent, Bklava has had time to focus on their newly established record label, Spin Suga, which began as a network of women, trans, and non-binary artists in Brighton. With room to expand into new projects, Spin Suga has a hopeful future in different lanes - from running club nights, workshops, and even a radio show.

Bklava delivers a peak-summer garage mix incorporating their own vocals and sits down with Mixmag to chat about their feeling of recent growth and development, legendary link-ups, and their gripes with the current state of the music industry. Check it out below.

You’ve said before that your stage name is a nod to your Lebanese heritage (and your favourite dessert!). Do you pay homage to your heritage through your productions and mixes?

I definitely pay homage through my mixes by repping other artists and producers from the SWANA region. I’m loving Saliah, DJ Plead, Moktar, Toumba and Moving Still to name a few! I’ve always said I’d love to have a project that centres around bringing in sounds and samples from my time in Lebanon and creating samples out of the experiences I pick up on the way along with getting recordings of the oud, tableh and vocals to sample. There’s something really special about hearing a blend of traditional instruments that takes on a new life with UK bass, so I’d definitely love to explore that myself at some point.

Having attended BRIT School, do you feel that having a background in performing arts helped to steer the more musical direction you’ve taken in your career?

I honestly learnt a lot from my time at BRIT and it was so valuable to be taken seriously with the prospect of pursuing a career in the arts! I studied Musical Theatre, so it’s a very different path to the one I'm on now, but it still gave me an awareness of the industry as a whole and how to use my voice properly.

Your blend of mixing while performing vocals feels effortless. How did you come to bring those two skills together? And which came first?

I’ve been singing since I could speak so that definitely came first! I started learning to DJ more seriously at uni but never really thought about singing over the decks until later. I was always singing over my friends' sets but never my own, and I think it came down to the fact that I was still early into DJing, so throwing singing into it just felt like something that was bound to go wrong!

The initial process came from a conversation with my first managers when we discussed artists like Sonique, who used to sing on the decks before moving into her career as a singer. It was something I hadn’t seen live before, so I was going to try it and see if it felt right. I was a resident at Patterns in Brighton back in 2017 to 2018, so I felt safe to try this there and it clicked! I only sang one song the first time, but it felt natural to me. I was beginning to produce and write dance music at this time too so everything was moving in the direction of becoming a dance artist as well as a DJ.

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As a garage artist, how did your love for the genre come about? Is it particularly nostalgic, or something you found later in life?

I was always familiar with the garage classics that were in the charts in the early noughties. My uncle absolutely loved ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ by Shanks & Bigfoot, I’d caught on and it became a favourite for me as a child. Dance music was always there but it came back into my life in a big way when I was at BRIT. All my friends were into house and dubstep and we all had the same tastes, so we would go out to parties and put these songs on which led us all to going to Hideout in Croatia, my first festival abroad. It was during the 2012 to 2015 wave of deep house and I got obsessed with it all!

My own discovery into UKG started in 2014, that’s when I first started to dabble in learning to DJ and I wanted songs with vocals, so I just went deep into YouTube and found loads of old recordings and vinyl rips of early ‘90s garage house which really resonated with me. It was probably my first step into knowing what I wanted to play.

You said recently that the music industry sometimes feels “impossible to be part of”, and that you’ve really felt the weight of it in recent years. It’s definitely a difficult time to be in the world of music - how have you been working to overcome those struggles, and what advice would you give to other artists feeling the same way?

I laughed when I read this ‘cus I didn’t realise I’d said this, but it’s true. I think it’s particularly hard as an artist who sings in dance music. There are quite a few of us now, and I still don’t know if it’s taken seriously within the industry. I know that the crowd loves it, most of the comments and feedback I get is about the joy people feel seeing and hearing the blend of both art forms, but the industry has always said otherwise.

My biggest piece of advice is to do what makes you different. The only negative feedback I’ve had from what I do is from the industry but never the crowd and I trust the crowd more. The industry always says they want something different and out of the box but then try to put you in a box if it doesn’t fit the current standards. My advice is to take the industry with a pinch of salt because it changes all the time but your art form and your selections and productions are special and sacred to you. Stick to your gut and find a team who backs you on this.

In general, the nightlife community is suffering. We’ve had a lot of closures and cancellations across the board and most artists and DJs I speak to are struggling to get work. If you’re trying to push through and doing the most you can, sometimes outside forces are what will get in the way and I think I resonate with that heavily right now. Keep going but don't settle for less than what you want. Allow yourself time before you see big changes to your career and always look after yourself first, ‘cause there’s not a lot of security in the arts so always bear that in mind. Real talk, but true.

The videos you’ve posted working in the studio or mixing at home show you in a really serene state. Is that a place of comfort for you?

I've loved letting people into my studio and for them to see me as the producer, as sometimes that can be missed. Being able to shine a little light on the live show setup I've been working on has also been really fun.

You’ve worked with an impressive roster of garage legends like MJ Cole, Wookie, and Big Ang. Who are you inspired by, and who do you want to work with next?

I still can’t believe all these link-ups have happened. I always view it as a hug to my younger self growing up. Who I want to work with will change all the time! But right now I’d love to work with Skream again, and Overmono, Logic1000 and BICEP. I’m inspired by a whole array of artists and not just electronic. I’m loving mk.gee at the moment, as well as Victoria Monét and Hailey Knox. I’m drawn to anything that I feel has soul and therefore am inspired by those who connect to that.

You launched your own label last year, Spin Suga, which is a home for female, non-binary, and trans artists. Where did you find inspiration for the imprint?

Spin Suga began as a network in Brighton. I created it off the back of my dissertation on gender equality in the electronic music industry and whether there was an imbalance due to a lack of numbers or general representation. It then went on to become a radio show in Brighton, taking part in local workshops and panel talks around the city. The goal was to always have a Spin Suga collective that was part of a label.

What are your goals with Spin Suga? Where do you see it going in the future?

I want it to be a community first and foremost to support women, trans and non-binary artists. I hope to put on nights with a line-up made up of artists from the label in the near future. There’s a lot I want to do with it, so when I have a bigger team in place, I’m hoping to put on more events and workshops and potentially start a radio show up again!

Read this next: UK garage: the 40 best tracks of 1995 to 2005

‘c u l8r’, your debut mixtape, landed in July on Spin Suga. Can you tell us about it? How did it come about?

It’s a body of work that showcases where I am as an artist, DJ and producer right now! I wanted this mixtape to reflect my influences in club music and put out into the world that I am a producer and not just a singer. I’ve worked with some of my heroes for this mixtape such as MJ Cole, Shadow Child, and Big Ang, who have all inspired me into creating dance music. I’m proud of every single song on there and it’s been amazing having a project to shout about as an independent artist knowing it’s true to what I wanted to put out in the first place.

You said that you “poured everything” into those 14 tracks on the mixtape, what does this project mean to you?

My music has been on a weird journey and I think I got a little lost for a year or two before becoming independent. This project was playing catch up, not only for me but for others who may have also gotten confused along the way. I see it like a rebrand but really I'm just going back to my roots in my early releases. It became my whole life for two years and I've gone through every emotion in making this project happen, so it feels like I've given everything to it. And now it is out there, it has set the tone perfectly for where I want to go as an artist.

What’s next for you? What have you got coming up?

Although I've just released a big body of work, I’ve been continuously writing and producing new music! So I'm excited to share my new release very soon, and I will be debuting my live show in London at The Lower Third on October 9!

Can you tell us about your Mixmag mix?

I’ve put together a mix that I would listen to at all hours, but specifically at a pre’s! I really enjoy putting a playlist together before I’m about to do a show as it gets me hyped before I've even performed, and I feel that way in a social setting too. There’s a few tracks from the mixtape along with some new and unreleased tracks from ODF and Helta Skelta, along with new releases from Dismantle and Mance. Tunes for all your moods!

Pre’s can be the best setup for a night and the music is always important to set the tone, so I hope this mix transpires in that way.

Bklava's debut mixtape, 'c u l8r', is out now. Buy it here.

Tracklist:

ODF - BACK T0 ’98
Mance - Much Better
Dismantle - Damage Work
Lotrax - Bogus
DJ SWISHA - CLUB MEGAMIXXX (DUB MIX)
Fonzo - Ring Ring (DJ ADHD Remix)
HELTA SKELTA - Taste
Jamie Unkown - Pressure
Main Phase - Grindin
Cottam - Digits
STIPP & Alec Dienaar - H-Tool 2
Disaffected - OS 11
Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen - Rippin Bongz
Restrikt - Block Party
Bklava - over u
Papa Nuga - Hyperdrive
Groovy D - Brixton Dem
BK298 - Mind Body Soul
Bklava - speak my mind
J Wax - Nasty (Cortese Remix)
Bklava - don’t rush